What to See in Chambersburg - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The Old Franklin County Jail is a historic jail located at Chambersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1818, and is a two-story, brick building with a slate covered hipped roof topped by a cupola. The original building measures 84 feet wide by 48 feet deep. In 1880, a cell block was added. The jail yard is divided into two sections and surrounded by a 20-foot-high wall. At least seven prisoners were hanged on the premises.

Now known as the Old Jail, the building houses a museum and genealogical library operated by the Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is included in the Chambersburg Historic District.^[1]

Courthouse. The current Franklin County Courthouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, built in 1865, is the third courthouse building on the site. The site was originally purchased from Colonel Benjamin Chambers in 1785.

The current building replaced its predecessor that was burnt on July 30, 1864 by Confederate forces under Brigadier General John A. McCausland in the American Civil War. McCausland was acting under the orders of General Jubal A. Early. Early was commander of the Shenandoah Valley, which was subject to much destruction by the Union forces. He was eager to retaliate against the North. Chambersburg deserved this retaliation, in his view, in part for its sympathy with John Brown while planning his raid on Harpers Ferry. McCausland offered the people of Chambersburg the chance to ransom the town for $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in greenbacks. When they did not pay, he carried on with the destruction of the town, including the second courthouse. Only the walls and pillars remained after the burning.

The current Greek Revival structure was designed by S. Hutton. The construction was superintended by Samuel Seibert. They designed and built the structure around the remaining walls and columns left from the previous courthouse. It stands two and half stories high, and is built of brick. There are fifty-four windows, twenty-two on each side and five each front and back. It features a domed clock cupola with a statue of Benjamin Franklin on top. There are also six symmetrically placed chimneys on the roof. It was expanded in 1902 in the same architectural style.

The courthouse is a contributing property in the Chambersburg Historic District. Chambersburg is the largest Northern community that was burned in the Civil War.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It is included in the Chambersburg Historic District.^[3]

Historical place in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg Historic District is a national historic district centered on the Memorial Fountain and Square of Chambersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 159 contributing buildings in the central business district and immediately surrounding residential area of Chambersburg. The district has a number of notable examples of Georgian and Italianate style architecture. Notable buildings include the St. Paul United Methodist Church, Professional Arts Building, Cumberland Valley National Bank, Cumberland Valley Railroad Station, First United Brethren Church, firehouse, Presbyterian Church of the Falling Spring, and the Suesserott House. Located in the district and separately listed are the Franklin County Jail, Franklin County Courthouse, John Brown House, Masonic Temple, Townhouse Row, and the Zion Reformed Church.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^[5]

Cemetery. The Israel Benevolent Society Cemetery also known as the Old Jewish Cemetery of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania is believed to be the earliest Jewish American burial ground west of the Susquehanna River. The oldest headstone refers to a burial in July 1840. At that time only a handful of Jewish families, mostly recent immigrants from Germany, lived in the small towns and villages of south-central Pennsylvania and adjoining counties of Maryland.

As there was no organized Jewish community life anywhere in the area until late in the 19th century, the Jewish burial society (Chevra kadisha), which administered the Chambersburg cemetery, was the main organizational structure of the Jewish minority in south-central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland. Among those who buried their dead in the Jewish cemetery in Chambersburg were the Jewish inhabitants of Hagerstown, Carlisle, and Mechanicsburg.

Isaac Burgauer, a Confederate soldier from Arkansas, who was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and died soon after in Hagerstown, is buried here.

Around 1900 the burial society dissolved, and the cemetery fell into disrepair and dilapidation. It was restored in 1988, and again in 2000.

In 2002, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission erected a historical marker there, noting its historic importance.^[6]

Museum in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. John Brown House, also known as the Ritner Boarding House, is a historic home located in Chambersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It is a two-story, three-bay wide, hewn-log building covered in clapboard. Abolitionist John Brown stayed here from June until mid-October 1859, while receiving supplies and recruits for his raid on Harpers Ferry. Following the raid, four of Brown's followers returned to the house to be concealed. It is operated by the Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny, as a historic house museum.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is included in the Chambersburg Historic District. It has been designated as an authentic site in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.^[7]